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Last week I posted an article titled “Mom Gives Green Advice” that outlines how various pieces of motherly advice, or ‘momisms,’ can be applied to living green. After reading the post, my brother mentioned that I had left out the single most prominent phrase of our childhood: don’t believe everything you see on television. Thinking back on the countless number of times my mom has said this to me I was a bit surprised that I hadn’t included it in the original post. To this day I fact check more compulsively that anyone I have ever met and it is because I was taught to.
In retrospect, it is probably better that the phrase didn’t make it into the first post. The single largest barrier that we face at the SEEC Foundation is public misconception and it all stems from where individuals are getting their information. When a story is run on T.V. viewers usually have no idea if the source is an environmental activist group, climate change deniers or a political think tank. This can make it hard to know what to trust and has led the American people to believe things that simply aren’t true.
At SEEC we encounter these false beliefs on a daily basis and this list is what we feel are the ten most common.
- Green = Sustainable
- Living sustainably is expensive
- Technology will save us
- Sustainability is an environmental movement
- Recycling and driving a hybrid make you sustainable
- Sustainability requires personal sacrifice
- Sustainable development is an oxymoron
- Socialism is the only way to be sustainable
- Sustainability is a trend that will pass
- U.S. efforts are insignificant
After compiling this list I realize that there is too much to say about each of these to put it into a single post. In a series of coming articles, I will address each myth, the way it has come up and the effect that it is having on the progress of sustainable development in the nation and across the world. Some myths are the product of media influence; others are simple misinformation. Regardless, they affect the advance of sustainability and need to be corrected.
Since you have already gotten this far, I felt like I couldn’t write a list and just say ‘come back next week’ so here I have addressed the first myth on our list:
Green = Sustainable:
The myth that haunts sustainability, and by far the most common misconception we encounter at the SEEC Foundation, is the notion that ‘going green’ implies that one is embracing sustainability. This misinformation has become so widespread that most individuals use the terms ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ interchangeably. Climate change has polarized the majority of efforts in both camps, bringing a great deal of attention to the ideals common to both green and sustainable lifestyles. This has overshadowed the differences in the concepts and fueled society’s adoption of the two as synonyms, effectively ignoring the unique meaning of both.
Green has become the hottest buzzword and can be seen anywhere from television to government legislation. It has grown so popular that there is now a term to describe its inappropriate use: greenwashing. Even our government officials are using the hype, obvious from the Green Jobs programs advertised by President Obama and the Greener, Greater Building Plan being proposed in New York City. Though these programs do address some green ideals, they are very clearly more focused on establishing sustainable practices. These programs address aspects of green practices but they do not have the distinctly environmental focus that the term is based on. Instead, they are aimed more at the concerns of sustainability; economic development and social wellbeing are significant drivers of these programs along with the clear environmental benefits.
A relevant example of how the two differ is organic food. Eating organically grown food has numerous health and lifestyle benefits but there is still a great deal of debate over whether the smaller, less productive harvests will be able to meet the demand for food. Additionally, there is concern that the energy costs from transportation and labor will increase as productivity declines. An organic diet is an example of something that properly described as green but not necessarily sustainable.
Our next post in the series on sustainability myths will be addressing the idea that living sustainably is expensive. Hopefully, we will be able to shed some light on this misconception and provide readers with some insight on saving money while becoming more sustainable.
Wesley Cronk is the Sustainability Director and co-founder of the SEEC Foundation. Currently a graduate student at New York University studying Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy, Wesley is a regular contributor at seecfoundation.org/blog
